The summer of 2010 saw me doing a LOT of open water swimming. I'd say that probably 3-4 of my 4-5 swims a week were open water, which is GREAT for getting accustomed to open water swimming, but not good if you're doing it wrong. I spent too many meters in the lake just cruising, and NOT pushing myself hard like I would if I was in the pool. Plus, not enough pool swimming meant I wasn't focusing on my proper form, and basically I was loosing speed. Not training at race pace or faster translated to some VERY poor performances in the later summer races. I had great swims early season, but it was a steady downhill decline after that.
This year will be different.
After much consultation with my newly appointed open water swim partner (the master of open water, Rod Craig, who has managed some amazing open water feats, such as crossing the English Channel!!) we will be revamping this years open water swim practices. Much more interval work, more group training, and the most important thing, RACE PREP! Just like running and cycling intervals, track work, and tempo training, you need to do race simulation for swimming as well. This video shows the 2011 training strategy we will be using. It will be hard work, but I know it'll pay off.
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